Cantwell smacks down Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh used his radio show on Wednesday to deliver sneering, personal allegations against a Georgetown University Law School student who was recently refused the right to testify before a U.S. House committee.

Cantwell

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., smacked down the right-wing mound of sound on Thursday.

The third-year law student, Sandra Fluke, wanted to talk about women’s health coverage and tell the story of a fellow student’s bout with ovarian cancer. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, rebuffed Democrats’ bid to let Fluke tell her story.

On Wednesday, Limbaugh called Fluke “a slut” and characterized her testimony (later delivered to an ad hoc panel of House Democrats) with these words:

“Can’t you imagine if you’re her parents how proud of Sandra Fluke you would be? Your daughter . . . testifies she is having so much sex she can’t afford her own birth control pills and she agrees that Obama should provide them, or the pope.”

“Rush Limbaugh yesterday squarely aimed his words at Sandra Fluke, questioning her virtue, doing so in a pretty rude manner on the airwaves. How do you feel about her character, her virtue being questioned, and is she being treated like a political football between the parties?”

Cantwell replied: “There is no call for those kinds of comments. They are very inappropriate and they should be repudiated by lots of people. This is about something that women have fought for and guaranteed the right to get access.”

Limbaugh, four-times married and a high-profile Viagra user, responded Thursday with a soliloquy on women’s access to birth control.

“I don’t think it’s being denied,” said Rush. “Contraception is not being denied, access to it. The DC Department of Health, you call ’em up, they’ll send the stuff to you free. They’ll send you condoms free.”

Who has credibility here? Limbaugh did take back his most vicious allegation late in Wednesday’s show, saying, “So, she’s not a slut. She’s round-heeled. I take it back.”

But one telling bit of evidence: When first questioning Fluke’s virtue on Wednesday, Limbaugh got her first name wrong.